


Service Dogs for Superheroes (SDfSH): Wade and Athanasia

by literally_no_idea



Series: Service Dogs for Superheroes (SDfSH) Main Series [32]
Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, SDfSH 'verse, Schizophrenic Wade Wilson, Service Animals, Service Dogs, Wade Wilson Breaking the Fourth Wall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-07 00:02:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18399038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literally_no_idea/pseuds/literally_no_idea
Summary: Finding Wade Wilson turns out to be harder than Natasha had initially thought. He has seemingly no pattern to his behavior, no rituals, and no consistent personality to make inferences as to what he might do on any given day.Natasha finally ends up just waiting him out near the empty warehouse he seems to call home, and when he comes home 39 hours after Natasha had started keeping post nearby, still in his suit, she jumps on her chance to talk to him.





	Service Dogs for Superheroes (SDfSH): Wade and Athanasia

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back to the series, or if you're new here, welcome! This part is about Wade and Athanasia. Enjoy!

Finding Wade Wilson turns out to be harder than Natasha had initially thought. He has seemingly no pattern to his behavior, no rituals, and no consistent personality to make inferences as to what he might do on any given day.

 

Natasha finally ends up just waiting him out near the empty warehouse he seems to call home, and when he comes home 39 hours after Natasha had started keeping post nearby, still in his suit, she jumps on her chance to talk to him.

 

“Excuse me, sir!” she calls, following him down the alley to the door of the warehouse, and he turns, head tilted to the side like a confused puppy.

 

“Sorry, do I know you? You look familiar, but like, Betty White familiar? Like a household name of some kind? Not that you look that old, I mean jesus christ, you’ve got it going on, if you don’t mind my saying so--”

 

Natasha cuts him off before he can go any further. “You’ve met a friend of mine before, Spider-Man, and I wanted to meet you myself.”

 

Wade nods. “Yeah, Peter! Small kid, right? We had enchiladas. Kid packs away a lot of food, but hey, don’t we all, am I right?” He puts his shoulder to the door of the warehouse and shoves his way in, holding open the door with a flourish. “After you.”

 

Natasha follows him through the warehouse as he starts tossing gear off, flinging it around the room at random. There’s a couch in the middle of the warehouse, a bookcase filled with everything from  _ Goosebumps _ to  _ War and Peace _ , a mini fridge that appears to be filled with Capri Sun and beer, and a couple cardboard boxes that Natasha has no idea what might be inside. Wade drops his katana swords on the floor, his belt on the bookcase, the gun strap from his leg on top of the mini fridge, and his mask gets flung over his shoulder in the direction of the door.

 

“So, what can I do for you? Usually if someone visits it’s the X-Men trying to get me to convert to ‘better morals’ or some 20th Century Fox, Disney bullshit like that, so I hope that’s not your goal,” Wade says, grabbing a beer from the mini fridge and plopping down on the floor despite the perfectly good couch four feet to his right, and Natasha stops by the bookcase.

 

“No, that’s not my goal. Peter was worried about you, I thought I’d come talk to you. We’ve got some pretty fucked up people back at the tower, myself included, so you probably wouldn’t feel too out of place around us. And we could support you.”

 

Wade snorts so hard that beer comes out of his nose. “Yeah, okay, sure. This feels like a setup for a weird collaboration of some kind, but sure, why the fuck not. I’ve done dumber shit for more boring reasons. So, take me to your leader, I guess? Will I get sued for saying that? Fuck it, I already said it. Let’s go.”

 

Natasha really can’t get a good read on this guy, but Peter was right, he definitely needs help and he definitely won’t be that out of place among the Avengers.

 

* * *

 

It takes a few months for Natasha to get anywhere close to understanding Wade, and by the time she does, she’s learned a few key facts about the guy. He’s smarter than he lets on, funny enough to keep up with Clint and Tony’s sarcasm word for word, and caring. He puts up a pretty good front as an asshole, but even though some of it might be true, Natasha’s also seen the way he puts his life on the line for Peter and Matt (because even though he reassures them all that he’s incapable of dying, that’s still a hard call to make) and she’s seen the way he interacts with the dogs.

 

It’s like seeing a whole new person. He treats the dogs with a sort of reverence, almost, and Natasha has to muffle a laugh the first time she sees him lean down to plant a masked face kiss on one of the dogs’ heads, the dog in question, Fubar, just licking Wade’s mask in return.

 

Natasha takes some time to think it over, but she really can’t imagine not getting the man a dog at this point, and seeing how he took to Fubar so well, she decides to get him a fluffy dog of his own. She finds a breeder in New York with Leonberger puppies, and she jumps on the opportunity, coming home a few hours later with little Athanasia.

 

* * *

 

Despite the number of tasks Natasha needs to teach Athanasia, training doesn’t take very long; Natasha’s gotten really good at this by now, and it’s fairly easy to repeat the process. However, Natasha takes a much longer time to work on Athanasia’s bombproofing, because knowing how Wade is, his dog is going to need to be able to roll with the most ridiculous of situations. Athanasia is fully trained after 10 months, and Natasha takes her to meet Wade one day when he’s in the tower, visiting with Peter.

 

“That’s a new dog, right? There’s a dog there, right?” Wade asks when Natasha and Athanasia arrive on the communal floor, and Natasha smiles.

 

“Yes, she’s real, and yes, she’s new. Wade, this is Athanasia. She’s your service dog, if you’re willing to take her.”

 

Wade starts to reach forward for the leash, and then hesitates. “I like the name. Athanasia. ‘Deathless,’ right? That’s clever. But I don’t think it’s safe.”

 

Natasha’s heart breaks a little, because no matter how many people she meets that don’t feel like they deserve good things, it still reminds her of herself, and it still makes her sad that someone feels that way.

 

“You’ll do just fine, Wade. I don’t give dogs to people unless I’m confident that the dog will be safe and happy. I trust you. Trust yourself.”

 

Peter pipes up from the other side of Wade on the couch. “It’s true, she thinks everything through. She also wouldn’t have let you anywhere near the tower if she didn’t trust you. I’ve seen her break men’s wrists just because they looked at a teammate the wrong way.”

 

Wade actually takes the mask off before he reaches for the leash again, and there’s tears in his eyes. “Thank you,” he says, and Natasha gives him the leash, putting a hand over his.

 

“You’re welcome. You deserve it.”

 

Wade goes home with Athanasia and all of her gear, throwing it over his shoulder in a giant sack because “it makes me look like Santa, right? I mean, missing the white, but I’ve got the red part of the uniform down!” and Natasha doesn’t regret her decision in the slightest.

 

* * *

 

Natasha’s reminded of how well she’d trained Athanasia when she gets a text from Wade that includes a picture of him soaking wet, sitting beside a river with Athanasia draped across his lap, and the caption “she pulled me out of the river! to be fair, I had it handled, but still, thanks Nat.”

 

Natasha rolls her eyes, sends back an emoji to reflect that, and then continues with Lapushka up to her therapy appointment. She has a feeling her therapist will be glad to see her smiling, and that’s always a good way to start a session.

**Author's Note:**

> Service dog facts of the day:
> 
> -I may have mentioned bombproofing before, but since it plays an important role in Wade's dog, I'm going to talk about it again. Bombproofing refers to training a service animal to be calm, confident, and capable of working regardless of the situation or circumstances. It's called bombproofing because when a service animal has been bombproofed, they should essentially be able to have a bomb go off near them and still be able to perform their tasks.
> 
> -Bombproofing is quite possibly one of the hardest and most time intensive things to train; dogs are not very good at generalizing, so a dog that is fine with a balloon popping in their own home might panic if a balloon pops in a store. You have to spend a very long time making sure that your dog is capable of handling all kinds of frightening and even painful encounters without reacting aggressively or fearfully, because ultimately, regardless of what someone else does in public space, it's generally considered the fault of the dog and handler if the dog reacts (I know, it's not fair, but that's how it is).
> 
> -I don't know how many of you are familiar with Murphy's Law, but it's an old saying that says "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong." This is a very, very common thought process in disability circles, because there's only that much more chance for us to experience something that might completely incapacitate us while the same situation might just be a minor inconvenience to someone else.
> 
> -Because of Murphy's Law, service dog handlers (and disabled people in general) tend to prepare for anything and everything that could possibly go wrong. I almost always carry a backpack with me full of things that I shouldn't realistically need, but that in a worst-case scenario I might. I always tell people that it's my "service dog handler instincts," because you just get used to expecting the worst.
> 
> -Murphy's Law is also why we spend so much time on bombproofing our dogs; you teach your dog from a young age to be comfortable with having their ears tugged on, tail pulled, paws stepped on, toes pinched, back and sides smacked, etc, because you never know what someone might do to your dog in public, adults and children alike.
> 
> -The way we teach this? Treats and rewards. Lots and lots of treats and rewards. You essentially train your dog not to fear and resent those accidental injuries, but to associate them with rewards, so that rather than panicking when it happens, they look to you like "ooh, do I get a treat now?" I did it with my own dog (even during his fear stages, which I'm amazed we did so well with), and he's pretty well adjusted to just about anything that happens around us.
> 
> Bucky's dog Fubar is based on the lovely webcomic [ Bucky and Fubar](https://buckyandfubar.tumblr.com/) by the amazing [ yawpkatsi ](https://yawpkatsi.tumblr.com/) on tumblr!
> 
> And that's what I have for you today! If you'd like to see more of my notes and drabbles related to this series, or want to talk to me about this series or anything else, you can find me on tumblr [ here ](https://servicedogsforsuperheroes.tumblr.com)
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading!!


End file.
